The Metal Master
by TheEvilMelonLord
Summary: Post Book-3. Bolin desperately wants to be a metalbender and is prepared to be taught by the legendary Chief of Police. However, he soon finds that Lin Beifong has a dark secret which could endanger the safety of his friends and family. Chapter 9: Zaofu is out of Su's hands after someone from Lin's past decides to take over.
1. The Bargain

**Before I came up with this idea, I'd never even thought of how to write Bolin in fanfiction. His personality is completely different from the style I'm comfortable with. But there's a first time for everything, I suppose. And this idea really appealed to me. **

The knock at the door was tentative and Lin knew it couldn't be one of her officers (unless they had some really bad news to give her) so she slid the metal panel on the bottom of her foot back, giving her seismic sense a chance to see who was outside her office and whether she should tell them to go away. In times gone by, she might have snapped at them and told them that if they had anything worth her time they'd have knocked like they really meant it, but between her renewed friendship with both Tenzin and Suyin, she was less abrasive and less likely to send a young cadet away from her office in tears.

It was the earthbending boy, she was almost certain. The one who could lavabend, something she was not so much envious as curious about. Bolin, she thought his name was. Petty thief on the streets turned pro-bender turned member of Team Avatar. Lin remembered being annoyed by him on several occasions; he had a knack, she recalled, of saying things whenever he could even if the situation really didn't call for them. At first she was immediately tempted to say that she was busy, but then she remembered that he was good-as-dating Opal, and decided that she should be merciful just this once. If Opal liked him then he couldn't be that bad – she trusted Opal's judgement. So she counted to ten, firmly swallowed any sign of abrasiveness about her person and before he could knock again, she called 'come in, Bolin' in a voice she specially softened to be slightly kinder to the ears than granite.

The boy opened the door in the typically nervous way in which he knocked and already she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Don't make him even more nervous, Lin, she chastised herself mentally.

'Um… hi?' Bolin said. 'Beifong… uh, I mean, chief?'

'Is this a professional matter?' She asked him in a brisk and slightly unwelcoming tone and groaned inwardly at her quick lapse back to Chief mode. 'I mean, have you come here to address me as Lin Beifong or the Chief of Police?'

'Lin Beifong, I guess.' By now he had wormed his way round the door and was standing awkwardly in front of it.

'Shut the door.' Lin said, and then as an afterthought, 'Please.'

He quickly shut the door and she invited him to sit in the only chair in the office besides the one at her desk. His mouth was clamped shut and evidently he was not going to start talking, so Lin lent him a hand.

'If you came to see me as Lin instead of as Chief, then what do you want to talk to me about?' She said in her straight-to-the point manner. He cringed backwards slightly as though she'd hurt him. 'I really don't bite, you know, whatever the receptionist may have told you.' She said and sighed. The sigh was barely perceptible but unfortunately he noticed and apologised instantly.

_This is going to take patience, Lin. He's sensitive, like Opal. How did you approach Opal?_

Opal. She knew how to handle him.

'Congratulations on becoming such good friends with Opal.' She said, and her tone of voice automatically softened further, the corners of her lips hinting at a smile, when she mentioned her niece. Bolin immediately lightened up.

'Thanks!' he said enthusiastically. 'She's so great, and we like the same food, and we're both bad at talking on the phone, and did you know she's coming to Republic City in a few weeks' time as soon as Suyin can make it back and they're planning to stay a few months and-'

'You would be referring to my sister.' Lin said. 'I do communicate with her, you know.'

Suyin had left to go back to Zaofu shortly after Jinora received her airbending tattoos but was planning to return very soon and stay for an extended period of time leaving Captain Kuvira temporarily in charge. Lin had been taken aback by just how much her sister wanted to spend time with her. It was quite touching, actually…

She was drawn back to earth by the feel of Bolin's heartbeat racing through the roof. Before he could apologise for no reason whatsoever apart from being slightly carried away by his ranting, she pointedly interrupted with a 'So. Why have you decided to come calling at my office? Is it about your brother?'

'If it's about Mako,' she said, 'I've tried as much as I can to get him to go back to the Island before the last ferry leaves, but he just keeps-'

'It's not Mako.' Bolin said quickly and then looked bashful for interrupting. Lin quirks an eyebrow at him as a motion for him to continue. 'It's actually about me. I… oh no, that sounded selfish, didn't it? I didn't mean it like that, you see I have this habit of saying the wrong kind of thing and-'

Lin bit back an 'I've noticed' with great difficulty. 'Don't be silly, it doesn't sound selfish. Where did you get that idea from?'

He muttered something about how stupid he was with words.

'You're very self-conscious for a pro-bender and a mover star.'

He contemplated whether this was an insult for a moment, and then decided it wasn't.

'Yeah,' he said, jabbing a thumb to his chest. 'That's me.'

There was a silence. As though he wanted to prolong the delay between now and the time when he said what he came here to say. He liked life, after all.

'Come on, boy.' Lin said finally. 'Out with it.'

'It's just… Mako's spending all his time here and when he does get home he's really tired and grumpy and Jinora is always hanging out with Kai and Ikki and Meelo are always training with each other. Korra and Asami are always locked away in Korra's room 'talking' or whichever excuse they give to get rid of me and my pro-bending career and my career as a mover star have gone down the drain and I've got nothing to do until Opal arrives so…' he paused to draw a deep breath. Spirits, why had he ever agreed to do this?

'I want to offer you a deal.' This came out as a squeak. It seemed impossible, but Lin somehow raised her eyebrow even further and her expression briefly flittered from disdain to disbelief and back to the normal impassive mask. She had to admire this boy. He certainly had guts.

'A deal?'

'Yes.' He whispered. 'You know how I learned lavabending?'

'Mhm.' Lin nodded. She was impressed by how the boy taught himself, but she didn't show it. Bolin realised that while most other people gasped or squealed or at least grinned and admired his new talent, nothing seemed to impress Lin Beifong.

'Well…' he continued. 'Since I don't have a career anymore and Mako's supporting us both which I don't like, I thought that maybe I could join the Metalbending Police Force? As a cop?'

'You can't metalbend.' Lin answered, stating the obvious.

'I can lavabend.' Bolin said, slightly defiantly.

'Listen, Bolin.' Lin said, remembering the way she had talked to Opal about doing what she wanted and not necessarily what her parents wanted, about going to the Northern Air Temple even though Suyin didn't want her to. She tried to adopt the same tone of voice with Bolin now. Not patronising, just explaining.

'Bolin, do you know why the Metalbending Police Force as the primary way of catching criminals around the city?'

Bolin shrugged. ''Cause your mother invented it?' he guessed.

'Then why not an earthbending Police Force?' She paused. 'Did Korra ever tell you about how she got arrested on her first day in Republic City?'

'She's mentioned it.'

'Korra got arrested for being a vigilante. She stopped several members of the Triple Threat Triad from burning down a man's store but in the process, she destroyed several stores herself with bending. She also messed up one of the primary travelling roads in the city. The reason why we have a Metalbending Police Force is because it's a lot harder to… well, to destroy the city, I suppose… with these metal cables-' she allowed a few centimetres of cable to slither onto her desk for Bolin to see, '-than it is to destroy the city with earthbending or firebending or waterbending. These cables are the most efficient way of apprehending criminals without messing up peoples' property. The Metalbending Police Force isn't a force of the best earthbenders. It's not a Dai Li where you have to take numerous physical and mental tests. Your lavabending is a great skill, believe me.' She smiled and Bolin felt a glow of pride in him. 'But it would cause even more damage to the city than earthbending.'

Bolin's hope was crushed under a very grey metal steamroller. His face showed it, too, and Lin was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for him. The kid had great potential and lavabending was an almost unique gift, but to be on the Metalbending Police force you had to be able to metalbend, simple as. An idea invaded her mind, disintegrating the wall of cold steel she put up to protect herself. _Damn you, Lin. You're too nice for your own good_. The idea wouldn't go away. In a last ditch effort, she suggested something else.

'You could always go to the Metalbending Academy.'

She knew his answer before he said it. 'We don't have the money, Mako and I. Besides, if I couldn't learn from listening to your sister and Korra I don't think I'd be able to learn in a class of thirty. Thanks for your time, but I get it. I was being stupid.' He made a motion as though to leave.

'No, wait.' She said quickly, then cursed herself. The idea was growing and she just couldn't shake it off.

Bolin watched the Chief. Her forehead was knitted in a scowl of thought and she was repeatedly running her hand through her grey hair, turning it into a haywire mess. In another situation where he wasn't so nervous, he might have laughed at how the normally organised-to-a-fault woman before him looked like she'd just come in from a ferocious gale. Eventually, she looked back at him with a resigned expression on her face.

'No Metalbending, no Metalbending Police Force, but if you're that desperate I'd be willing to teach you myself. I can't say I'm a good teacher and I know what Suyin said about me but her 'you have great potential' approach doesn't work with everyone.'

He gawped at her, open-mouthed, as the offer sank in. Be taught metalbending by Lin Beifong, one of the greatest earthbenders in the world? Suyin was very encouraging and all, but what she had said about believing in yourself hadn't really helped in the way of metalbending for him. Su had said that Lin would be a horrible teacher and he was sure that there would be a lot of pain if he agreed, but Su had also said the last time they spoke that Lin was the best metalbender since her mother or perhaps even better. He had watched her in awe before, how the metal flowed through her fingers like a living thing. He'd never have dreamed of being bold enough to ask her, though. And here the offer was on a silver platter. There was no real choice.

'Awesome! Oh, thank you, thank you!' He cried, and made as though to hug her. Lin sprang back quicker than lightning, an almost comical expression of terror on her face. Oh yeah. He forgot. This was Lin Beifong, not Korra.

'Sorry.'

Lin shook her head, but prowled back to her desk like an animal wary of further attack.

'You become my student on one condition, though.' She said. 'You don't quit. Even when Opal comes and you would much rather be spending the afternoon with her than with a short-tempered sabre-toothed moose-lion like me, you still come. Even if I make you cry, and I probably will, you come. Even if you think you're rubbish, you come.'

'Deal.' Bolin said, all seriousness, and wondering what she would do to make him cry. Trap him between two sheets of metal and crush him until he bent his way out? He could imagine the pain now. It would be worth it if he could learn metalbending.

'Thanks… Lin.' He said. 'I can call you Lin, right?'

'It's Sifu Lin when I start teaching you.' Lin corrected him as he stood up to leave. 'And Bolin…'

He paused at the door, all his nervousness gone, with a smile bigger than any he'd smiled since he last saw Opal. 'Yes, Sifu?'

'Don't tell any of the officers. If you tell Mako, swear him to secrecy or threaten him or something. Don't let them know I'm giving you private training.' Lin wasn't asking, she was commanding. Bolin nodded, still grinning wildly, and slipped out of the room. There was a brief moment of silence in the office that could be mistaken for an interrogation room if not for the paperwork on the desk, and then Lin smiled and shook her head, wondering what Suyin would say when she heard. Then her mountain of paperwork nosed itself into her consciousness again and she continued to work.


	2. Pabu and Jealousy

'What is Bolin _doing_?' Mako whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

'I'm not entirely sure,' Korra replied. 'But I think he might be trying to teach Pabu how to drive a Satomobile.'

'What?' Mako gasped, opening and closing his mouth and forgetting to whisper. 'Even Bolin isn't that stupid!'

'I heard that.' Bolin said, turning his head from where he was trying to get Pabu to press the accelerator with his tail. 'And I'm not stupid. Pabu is the most intelligent Fire Ferret to ever live. Aren't you, Pabu?' He cuddled Pabu and made the ferret nod his head in agreement. 'He deserves more than just being a performing ferret. I am taking him out of the age of Fire Ferrets and into a new golden era.'

'You're taking him out of the age of Fire Ferrets, certainly.' Asami quipped. 'And into the age of Fried Ferrets. Don't be stupid, Bolin.'

'Hey, now you're ganging up on me! Don't have faith in Pabu? Fine. I won't ask you to come on the test drive.'

Asami dramatically put a hand to her forehead. 'Oh no. I am _so _devastated I missed out on an opportunity to get slaughtered in your ridiculous plan.'

'Bo, come on.' Mako said. 'Chief Beifong didn't give me this day off to watch you murder innocent animals. To quote her, she said I needed some "time to stop my brain overheating" and the only reason I agreed is because I haven't as she pointed out been spending enough time with you and tomorrow your metalbending lessons start and since they start at the crack of dawn I'll see you even less. Now stop playing around with Pabu and let's go to Republic City.'

'Woah. I can feel the heat coming off you there, Mako.' Bolin said, mock-fanning himself. 'Cool it, hotman.'

Korra laughed, and Bolin grinned; it felt good to hear Korra laugh. 'Lin – I mean Sifu – gave you the time that our lessons begin?'

'Mhm.' Mako said, nodding. 'I'll tell you what time if you abandon your completely moronic idea and come with us.'

Bolin stuck out his bottom lip and sighed theatrically. 'Fine. Pabu, the world will have to wait to see your genius at work.' Pabu squeaked and leapt onto Bolin's shoulder.

'The ferry leaves for Republic City in five minutes.' Mako said. 'We can make it easily.'

'Urgh.' Bolin groaned. 'You better be grateful, Mako, because every time I go into Republic City I get attacked by some creepy fifty-something-year-old Nuktuk fan. It's horrible. Worse still, Varrik never paid me.'

'Really?' Korra was disbelieving. 'But he's a billionaire.'

'Not. A. Yuan.' Bolin emphasized. 'I guess he didn't have time what with being arrested by Mako and escaping prison and making his way to Zaofu. By the time we met him there, he couldn't legally use his wealth.'

They began walking down the dusty path leading to the ferry. It was lined with bushes of soft purple flowers and Pabu leapt through them, his fur becoming violet-coloured.

'So you're still going to take metalbending lessons with Beifong?' Korra said. 'I'm so sorry. I promise I'll make your funeral real nice after she kills you in a Mad Beifong Fit of Fury.'

'Nah, it won't be that bad…' Bolin said, though his usually confident voice faltered with a slight tinge of uncertainty. 'She said she'd make me cry, but she never said she'd kill me. And I like to pretend that the crying was just an empty threat.'

'You like to foolishly and optimistically _believe_.' Mako corrected.

'Fine, I like to believe that the crying was just an empty threat. Anyway,' he crossed his arms, 'it'll all be worth it once I learn metalbending.'

They had found themselves on the ferry, and Bolin hit the metal hard with his fist. 'Wouldn't that be amazing? To his this and have it snap like a twig? You'd feel so strong.'

'I can only imagine.' Korra said sarcastically.

'Fine, you can already metalbend. But soon, I'll be better than you. Su said herself that Lin was a better metalbender than her and possibly even a better metalbender than Toph, and Toph invented metalbending. So a few months of training with the greatest metalbender who ever lived and I'll be better than the avatar!'

'What age did Lin start metalbending?' Korra asked Mako. 'Did she ever tell you?'

'Why would the Chief tell me?' Mako shrugged, then turned back to the island and pointed to the path lined with purple flowers. 'Maybe Su can tell you.'

Korra, Asami and Bolin squinted into the sunlight. Suyin was sliding down the slope on a thin sheet of earth, barely disturbing the flowers as she sped by. She leapt into the air and landed on the ferry with graceful ease.

'Nice moves.' Said Asami. 'Something to do with your dancing?'

'I was taught by Ty Lee.' Suyin replied. 'She took a liking to me when I was very small.'

'So, Su. What brings you into Republic City?' Asked Korra.

'As you know, I came back here from Zaofu yesterday and Opal will be along in a couple of weeks when she's finished her tests for her initiation into the metalbending dance group. I'm just going into the city to check up on Lin. See her supposedly well-oiled machine of a Police Force.'

'We wanted to know… don't think we were talking about you behind your back… we wanted to know when you and Lin learned earth and metalbending.'

'Oh.' Su said, and a momentary look of what could in the vaguest terms be classified as jealousy flickered across her face. 'I started earthbending when I was three. When I was eight, mum decided to start training me in metalbending. I was constantly complaining that she didn't spend enough time with us, so even though I didn't metalbend until I was eleven, I guess she thought that starting training early was a bit of a kill-two-butterbirds-with-one-stone.'

'Impressive.' Asami said. 'Toph invented metalbending when she was twelve, didn't she?'

Su nodded.

'And Lin?' Bolin didn't want to sound rude, but he really wanted to know.

'Lin…' Su sighed. 'Lin metalbent when she was seven. She had already practically mastered seismic sense and she told me that all she had to do was watch mum for a while and then close her eyes and see the particles of earth within the metal. She said that she could feel every atom. That's probably another reason why my mum started training me at eight years old. She was hoping I'd be as good as Lin. Of course, I wasn't. I never was as good as Lin.' She turned away and gripped the metal railing so tightly she bent it into the shape of her fingerprints seemingly without knowing. 'But I did well right? I built an entire city! I did just as well as Lin!' She seemed to realise that she was almost shouting, and lowered her voice, trying to calm down. Then she turned to Bolin. 'Tomorrow, when you start your lessons, remember you're training with history's greatest metalbender. She'd mastered it at the age of twelve, around the same time my mother mastered earth and discovered metalbending. Don't be crushed by how good she is if you can't get it. I'm sorry I called her a horrible teacher. She might be, but I don't know. When I said it, I guess I was just jealous. Her extraordinary ability was just another wedge between us when we were young.'

Korra smiled gently at Suyin, and though Mako's brows were knitted in a frown, he too offered a half-grin. The ferry glided across the water and as they drew closer to Republic City, Asami asked Bolin;

'Do you even know how to drive?'


	3. Twisting Earth

'Starting to regret it yet?' Korra teased Bolin. She was nearly shouting over the chugging of the ferry as it made its way from Air Temple Island to Republic City

'Nope.' Bolin said breezily. 'She doesn't intimidate me like she does the rest of you.'

'Except that day you tried to make a deal with her, right?' Korra smirked. 'She told me you looked ready to burst into tears. Then she said that it had to happen sooner or later.'

'Okay, I might be a bit nervous about the Beifong teaching method. I mean, I'm not… hardcore… not like she is. That's the second time she's mentioned making me cry during training. When someone sets out to make me cry, it can't be good.'

'Yeah, well, it doesn't take too much to get you in tears. Like that time when Mako told you that the sweater you made him would've fitted a giraffe better, you ran out of the room sobbing.' Korra slapped Bolin hard on the back, making him cough. 'I reckon Beifong'll toughen you up something fierce. There's no way she'll allow wimps on the Force. By the time Opal comes back from Zaofu she won't know you.'

'You think?'

'In the best possible way.'

The ferry pulled up in Republic City Harbour, and the five or six passengers descended the gangplank. From the city, a solid wall of sound and the smell of fried food hit Bolin and swept away the ocean's salty spray. Bolin smiled and let his shoes sink into the earth. This was where he really belonged.

'You know,' he said to Korra, 'once, I wanted nothing to do with the police.'

Korra raised her eyebrows. 'Can't say I'm surprised. Have you ever told her about it?'

'No, of course not.' Bolin scoffed. 'I like my life. I figure that secrets should let lie.'

The Police Station was practically gleaming in front of them. The windows shone in the sunset's light.

'All right.' Said Korra. 'I'm going to meet up with Asami. From now on, you're on your own. Make sure you convince Lin to come back on the last ferry with you. She promised Tenzin she'd come to the Island for dinner.'

Bolin gulped and somewhat shakily waved goodbye to Korra. He remembered with painful clarity what Su had said; '_you're training with the best metalbender in history'_, and his insides did a weird flopping thing where he felt he might be sick.

The blind eyes of Toph's statue surveyed the world, and he liked to pretend he heard her voice in his head, saying; _'Go show her what you're made of, pro-bender'._

Bolin smiled. 'You think?'

_'__I know. If she can metalbend, why not you? She's no more made of earth than you are.'_

'All right!' Bolin cheered to himself. 'I can do this!'

'So when do we start metalbending?'

Lin looked at him. 'Not yet.'

'So when?'

'When you've passed my tests. Today, you're going to prove whether you're worthy of being a metalbending student.'

'All right.' Bolin said, determined not to let his enthusiasm fade. Lin Beifong had brought him to the massive gym beneath the station and they were standing on a slightly raised circular platform which seemed to serve as a fighting ring and therefore made Bolin nervous. 'So the way to go is to try and beat you? That's a tall order.'

'I didn't say that. I said that there'd be a test.' Lin folded her arms. 'The fabled statistic that only one earthbender in one hundred can metalbend is false, but not everyone can. It's more like ten percent. Metalbending is more about the mindset than actual ability. Think of it as though one-tenth of you can metalbend. You've got to uncover that one tenth but before I waste my time teaching you something that won't end up working, I need to see whether you have the ability to metalbend at all.'

The shadow of a smile which might someday be called encouraging flickered across her face before being replaced by the usual almost sad scowl.

'Couldn't you smile more like you did in Zaofu?' Bolin asked. 'I know you said to abandon all self-esteem and whatever but it's really crushing me to have you scowling even before training begins. Sifu.'

'This is my neutral expression, pro-bender. I don't change my expression to suit your will.'

'This is neutral? Well then what's happy?' Somewhere in the back of his mind, Bolin imagined he and Korra having this kind of banter between friends at a takeout restaurant. If he wanted to learn from Lin, he couldn't be terrified of her. He figured she'd be more pleased if he just tried to act as he would to a friend he respected. _Be strong, like a rock. _

'I'm only happy if something happens which is worth my happiness!' Lin raised her eyebrows. 'Your perpetual optimism and positivity dulls your emotional range.'

'Well, the only evidence I've seen that you're not an automaton is that morning in Zaofu where you actually smiled. Chief crankypants.'

'I'm sorry if my not being on a constant sugar high like some people upsets you, _Nuktuk._ If you want to be a metalbender, you need to toughen up. You thought probending was hard? You haven't seen anything yet. You need to be able to stand there and take a good few boulders to the stomach.'

Bolin did a double take. 'Is that a challenge?'

She looked up, and for a moment, he saw triumph in those eyes which seemed to belong to someone other than the emotionless statue she sometimes made herself out to be. He realised with a groan that she had orchestrated this whole thing. 'Maybe it is.' She spun a finger round in the air as if telling him off. Quite unexpectedly, the entire ground beneath Bolin's feet began to spin round, fast. He took a leap to the left and landed on his toes, ducking and diving from the rapid succession of large rocks Lin fired his way using only flicks of her wrist, occasionally blocking one with his arm and making it disintegrate to dust.

'Come on, boy.' Lin called, her voice trying to remain monotone but failing as a hint of taunting joy crept into it. Bolin realised that the rocks she was sending at him were now in all sorts of shapes – flowers, leaves, houses… for some reason, as he blocked them, he felt like he had just seen into her mind a little. Seen a tiny part of how much she truly loved bending. She was barely making any effort – he was working hard to block her shots and she hadn't even moved her feet, or anything much except her hand. Bolin gritted his teeth, determined to show her that he was worthy of being her student since right now he was obviously proving otherwise.

He ducked two quick shots and slammed his foot into the dusty floor to lift up two roughly circular earth disks. Before he even had the chance to throw them, however, they were gone in a 'poof' of dirt and small crumb-sized pieces of rock. Lin jerked both her arms upwards, and behind Bolin, two stacks of perfectly shaped pro-bending disks as tall as he was himself erupted from the earth.

'Lin Beifong, you have a twisted slash borderline cruel sense of humour!' Bolin shouted as he used both arms to bend the top half of each stack at her. With movements about as energetic as someone making a cup of tea, she bent the discs into the wall, in the form of a smiling Bolin. It was quite a good caricature, Bolin had to admit, and she appeared to be admiring her work so thinking she was distracted he bent the bottom half of the disc towers at her. He caught a flash of metal at the ground by her foot and a millisecond later an earth wall had stopped the discs. Bolin stamped the ground and made it crack into hundreds of tiny pebbles and, using a technique he had seen Suyin use before, fired them all at the earth wall, which cracked and crumbled. Behind it stood Lin, and the smile on her face was so alarming that Bolin stopped.

'Pulling a Su on me?' Lin asked him. 'You'll find that that's a mistake.'

There was a cheer behind him, and Bolin flashed a look round to see half the Metalbending Police Force watching them.

'Go, kid!' A captain who was probably about thirty shouted. 'Show her what you're made of!'

_Show her what you're made of._

'I'll have you fired, Tinuay.' Lin smirked. 'But come on, boy. Have a go. Hit me with your best shot, come on.'

Bolin felt a rush of confidence. He could do this! If he struck hard enough, he might stand a chance at remaining her student. With an almighty growl he flung himself forward, bringing with him as he did so two massive jets of brilliant red lava which careened towards his teacher.

Lin's eyes widened, her arm sliced the air with lightning speed, there was a thudding sound and a snap and Bolin found himself out of the ring, on his back. He turned to see what had hit him but the ring looked innocent, the ground completely smooth; he couldn't see what could possibly have knocked him out.

Lin was standing in the middle of the ring, looking horrified, and around him was dead silence; she stumbled forwards but seemed suddenly too drained to continue and fell, one of the officers bending a rock wall up to catch her. She leant on it, staring at Bolin, her face ashen, and for the first time since Bolin had met her she looked her age. Metalbending cops ran towards their Chief but stopped a good distance away as though afraid to go any closer. Several jogged over to Bolin and as he stood up, he felt a searing pain in his arm. He looked down to see jagged pieces of bone sticking through his skin.

'Hey kid?' Tinuay asked. 'Can you hear me?'

Bolin felt like he was going to be sick. Another wave of pain. In his half-conscious mind, he thought he heard Lin Beifong let out a sob. Then he collapsed.

**Wow this chapter was so hard to write! This has taken a slightly darker turn to what I originally intended. It was kind of going to be a Lin and Bolin bonding thing where Bolin eventually learns metalbending, but I'm thinking of developing it into something more sinister. Please tell me if you think you've guessed what happened already; I want to know whether it's too obvious. Constructive praise and criticism are of course appreciated. **


	4. Where Secrets Lie

_Dear Uncle Sokka_

_I'm scared. Something very bad has happened and mummy won't understand; she'll think I'm evil. I can't tell you what happened right now because it's so bad that if anyone else reads this and finds out they'll hunt me down. Please when you get back from Kyoshi Island can you come and talk to me as soon as you can? What has happened is very awful and I need to talk to you because you always make me feel better when I'm sad. Please come soon. I don't know what to do. _

_Love, Lin_

'Hey, Bolin.' Water splashed onto his face and Bolin jerked awake, spluttering. Korra was standing over him, grinning, and Mako was hovering behind her looking worried.

'What did you just do? Korra? What happened?' He looked around the room. 'And how did we get to Air Temple Island?'

The window was open, blowing a light breeze in, and through the semi-darkness Bolin could just catch a glimpse of Avatar Aang's statue on Memorial Island. 'What the hell was going on back in the training room?'

'Some guys called Tinuay and Yonsen told me that you lavabent and Lin hit you too hard with a rock in self-defence because the only way she could block you was to stop your bending.' Korra said. 'Seemed weird to me, though. Lin had a complete breakdown and was just sitting there hitting her head against the wall pretty hard over and over again. Guilty, I guess. Anyway, your bone was all urgh and sticking out and stuff so Mako called Tenzin and Tenzin brought Oogi so here we are. Oh, and I fixed your arm.'

Bolin looked down at his arm to find it wrapped in bandages. A small amount of blood seeped through the clean white linen but other than that, the pain was almost gone.

'Seems like you did a pretty neat job. What did you say about Lin having a breakdown?'

'She's in one of the other rooms now. Tenzin's talking to her and Asami convinced her on the way here that she should take tomorrow off work. I know that it was a pretty bad break, but spirits she looks like she's just killed someone. It's not like your arm is even going to scar.'

The night had not yet fully enveloped the sky in its shadowy arms so Bolin could tell he had only been unconscious for a few hours. He frowned, trying to make sense of it. How did he not see the rock Lin threw his way to stop him lavabending? How could he have been such an idiot as to lavabend? And how did Lin Beifong misjudge the strength of her throw? It confused him.

'You okay, Bro?' Mako asked concernedly. 'You look a bit… out of it.'

'I've just been knocked unconscious by the Beifong Training method.' Bolin attempted to joke. 'How do you expect me to look?'

The bamboo panels at the end of the room slid open and Lin trudged in. Her hair was a mess, her skin still had the greyish colour it had when Bolin had last seen her and her eyes looked less like jewels and more like murky swampwater. The Lin Beifong Korra knew would definitely have told them all to stop staring. Instead, she just sat down heavily in a chair. Without her uniform she looked smaller, too, and much less intimidating.

'We'll just… ahem. I think Pema might need help with the tea.' Mako excused himself. 'Korra, wanna come?'

'Sure…' Korra glanced back at Lin before practically jogging out of the room.

There was silence for a few minutes and Bolin took the opportunity to examine Lin carefully. Maybe she was angry with him.

'Kid.' Lin said eventually.

'Please don't say you'll stop teaching me.'

'If I do, it isn't because of you.' Lin murmured, seemingly far away in her own thoughts.

'What?'

'N-nothing.' Lin said quickly. 'I just want to say sorry about the arm. It would seem I was unprepared for your lavabending.'

'It's kind of my fault too, I should never have-'

'Bolin, name me all the sub-skills of earthbending.' This was so unexpected that Bolin just stared.

'You know.' Lin said impatiently. 'Metal, the rest.'

'Oh. Okay.' Bolin proceeded cautiously, having no idea that it mattered. 'Well there's earth, metal, sandbending, lavabending,' –here he grinned proudly– 'I guess you could say mudbending… space-earth bending doesn't really count, does it? Seismic sense I suppose. And I think that that's it. Why?'

Lin exhaled sharply and had Bolin actually known how to use seismic sense he would have felt Lin's heartbeat increase ever so slightly. 'No reason, really. I – I get awkward in apology-related situations.'

'Right…' Bolin said. 'So… how did you break my arm? I didn't see the rock.'

Immediately he knew that this was exactly the wrong thing to say. Lin's face twisted, turning even paler and her eyes shone strangely, glassily, in the way they would if someone were about to cry. He was going to apologise but her answer stopped him.

'No. You wouldn't have seen the rock.' Her voice was distant again, detached, and she stared right at him without seeing him. Suddenly she shook her head. 'It's an earthbending technique I developed where you bend from the ground directly where the person is standing giving them no time to react to your blow or even notice it coming I wouldn't have done it if you weren't lavabending and even then it was an accident I'm sorry.' Now her voice was lifeless, monotone. There was less emotion in it than the screeching of the cogs on a rusty mecha tank and it unnerved Bolin.

'Forgive me.' Lin said abruptly in the same voice, and she lurched out of the room. Bolin had expected Korra and Mako to be listening outside the door but it appeared they had really gone to help Pema, probably at the lure of free fruit tart tasting. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking about Opal. And why Lin was being so strange.

Then, from outside, he heard a sob. It was distant but from years on the streets he could boast to anyone that his hearing was extremely good. The crash of waves against rock had ceased for a moment so in the quiet the sound of crying was just audible. There was no question over what he was going to do; Bolin eased himself onto the floorboards without making them creak and lightly sprung out of the window, wincing slightly as he put pressure on his recently-healed arm.

He landed like a leaf on the wooden roof overshadowing the ground. He crept along, almost slithering over the smooth, rounded tiles. Around the corner of the temple he could see a softly glowing light and as he drew nearer the sound of someone talking through tears increased. He leapt nimbly into a tree just where the roof ended and crouched low.

Kya was sitting on the pavilion made of hexagonal stones with her arm around Lin, who was curled up, shoulders shaking and making no attempt to brush Kya's comforting hand off. In her hand she held a scrunched-up piece of paper. Bolin grimaced when the thought of what he was doing occurred to him. By all technicalities he was eavesdropping on a clearly private conversation. But he thought that if Lin hadn't told him the whole truth, he deserved to know it. It was _his_ arm that had been broken, after all.

'Lin.' Kya whispered, pulling Lin closer into a hug. 'It's fine. You hired every person in that room partly based on the loyalty they showed you. None of them will betray you.'

Lin shook her head frantically. 'What is it?' said Kya. 'Is there anyone who you don't trust?'

Lin shook her head again, sniffed and moaned quietly. 'How can I keep doing this?'

'You don't need to.' Kya calmed her. 'At least, not alone. We'll all do everything we can. You've always known that, Lin. Even when stuff got really bad with Tenzin, we've always done our best to help with this.'

'It's like a curse.' Lin gasped. 'I'm always so afraid – I don't know how to not do it – I'm always so scared that we'll be fighting some triads and one of them will attack me and then suddenly-suddenly the secret is over, and everything's over.'

'Nothing's over Lin. Secrets can be kept. We've kept this secret, your secret, ever since that first day… and no one who would use it to harm you will ever know.'

'But today – that's over twenty officers who found out. Someone could torture the information out of them – and I feel so guilty about what I did to that boy. I should have explained, I should have told him the truth. Oh, Kya.' Lin leant against the older woman.

'What happened to Bolin wasn't directly your fault. You would've avoided it if you possibly could have.'

'But what if it wasn't his arm? What if it was his back… or his neck? When I did it, and he went backwards out the ring, I could see it so clearly for a moment, I could see that time was happening all over again.'

'Ssh, Lin.' Kya murmured. 'It won't happen again. He was lavabending, and your instincts kicked in.'

'My instincts are worse than Sokka's.' Lin gave a muffled laugh. 'I could have gotten out of the way in time. I can't keep this up. Someday, my luck will run out and I'll end up killing someone I love again.' The laughter disappeared as quickly as it came and Lin raised her head for the first time to look at Kya. In the lamplight, Bolin could see the tears streaming down her face and the expression of utter misery that she wore was thrown into sharp reality by the stark shadows.

'Lin…' Kya couldn't think of a response. What do you say to something like that? 'Oh, Lin. Katara understood, everyone did, that it wasn't your fault.'

'But I didn't understand. I didn't forgive myself. I never will. How long do I have to do this before it gets out?' Lin took a deep, shuddering breath and Bolin leaned closer in spite of the sick feeling in his stomach at what he was doing.

'Before someone finds out that I'm a bonebender?'

_Dear Lin_

_I'll come as soon as I can. I should be here in a couple of days so just hang in there, kiddo, okay? I'll work on some really good boomerang jokes to tell you so that the bad thing you say has happened won't seem so frightening anymore. I'm sure I can make you feel better with some stories. Maybe I'll get here before this letter does and then we can laugh at it together!_

_Loads of love, your uncle Sokka_

_PS: I'm sure Toph won't ever think you're evil._

_PPS: Suki sends her love too. _

_PPPS: I love you kiddo. I'm glad that you think I can help you._

Lin stared at the scrunched piece of paper, yellow with time. Tears fell thick on the old ink, and her hands shook enough to tear the paper apart.


	5. The Bonebending Diary

Lin knelt on the floor of the uppermost attic in Air Temple Island. Around the (slightly slanting) wall were shelves groaning under the weight of hundreds of photo albums, diaries and scrapbooks, almost all of which were coated in a layer of dust so deep that the entire room seemed to have been smothered in years of abandonment. To be fair, it probably had been deserted for almost a decade. Lin could look back and see her footprints, made hours before when she first stepped in here, stretching back to the door. This place was undisturbed but for the missing space in one of the bookshelves.

The book had remained dust-free, hidden behind a large brown photo album which was, in fact, empty except for a few grainy images from a few years after the war. Lin had been careful that no one would find the book, her book, so she had hidden it here.

She didn't know how she had the courage, or maybe the weakness, to open this book again. When she thought about it, the idea of even making this thing in the first place seemed absurd and twisted, illogical. It was more dangerous than explosives or lava or knives, to her at least. Turning each page meticulously and with great care, she read small extracts from the things she had written. One page was covered in massive and painfully smudged lettering; 'BEIFONGS DON'T CRY.' There were newspaper articles too, sometimes accompanied by photos or even sketches. Often, a diary entry shared a page with a newspaper article.

_The man's neck was snapped clean in two and multiple other bones were also splintered in a way never seen before, forensics report._

_'__I'm scared so much it's like I've never even known fear before. That was just panic. Fear is something else, something I'm too familiar with, now.'_

_Rumour has it that upon questioning the fourteen-year-old Lin Beifong, the police could get nothing out of her as she is refusing to speak. _

_'__Tomorrow's the anniversary; they're holding a memorial service. I feel strange and detached from it all, it's the only thing I can do to ease the pain and my awful guilt.'_

_And as the anniversary of Councilman Sokka's mysterious death once more falls upon us, our city is plunged yet again into the puzzling conundrum of his death. _

This article shared a page with a pressed flower, long since devoid of colour but leaving behind a red stain on the page it was pinned to. Below the flower, in slanted wobbly writing, Lin had written; _'Some things are not for them to know.' _There were also photos there, of Lin riding on Sokka's shoulders, Lin throwing Sokka's famed boomerang at a red target painted on a wall, Lin gluing Sokka's boomerang back together after it had been trodden on by Appa, and of Sokka whirling Lin round and round in the air. This one was captioned _'__The first flying earthbender'_.

If anyone had cared to look at every page of the book, as Lin was doing, they'd find that five times there were pages almost exactly the same as this one. Five anniversaries, the same day, in five consecutive years. Five different flowers, and many more photographs with frozen happy memories captured in their depths. And five thousand tears of regret buried in the thick strong pages.

Five thousand and one tears now. Lin rubbed her stinging eyes furiously with the back of her silk sleeve; today she had abandoned metalbending uniform in favour of something less heavy.

Footsteps creaked on the wooden stairs below her. Damn whoever it was! She had come here because she thought that everyone might get that she wanted to be alone, so that she could spend the day trying to figure out what she could possibly do.

'Er… Lin?' Oh no. It was Bolin. 'Can I talk to you please?' The door swung open, creaking for all it was worth, and Lin was treated to the slightly comical sight of Bolin sneezing violently as the dust was disturbed once more. Or at least, it would have been funny in a different situation.

She slammed the book shut, sending a grey cloud flying about the room and then settling back down, too thick ever to be cleared away. The cover was emerald green, with the words _Five year scrapbook, 108ASC-113ASC_ in peeling glittery writing inscribed upon it. A birthday gift to an eager seven-year-old with slightly sloppy calligraphy, a book meant for happy memories. Underneath the dates, though, the velvet cover had been dug into cruelly, like a cut. The letters were jagged, angry, black against green.

_The Bonebending Diary. _

Bolin saw. Their eyes met and glanced away again and Lin snatched the heavy book up, clutching it protectively in her hands.

'I know.' Bolin said suddenly, after staring for a minute at the book in her arms. 'I heard you and Kya talking last night. I'm sorry that I heard something that is so private to you.' Lin's knuckles turned white from her grip on the Bonebending Diaries and looking at the floor, she whispered, 'So you found out after all. Maybe it's for the best.' But her voice sounded so forlorn that Bolin didn't believe she actually meant it.

'I'm stupid like that – impulsive.' He burst out. 'But I just wanna say, I'd like to know what's happening. I'm not a kid, not really, and this is obviously something mega-important. So if I knew, then I'd understand the situation better.' When Lin made no move to, say, kill him, he relaxed and the confidence in his voice increased. 'I'm also pretty good at comforting people, if you ever, you know, need a hug…' he shifted his weight from foot to foot, blushing sheepishly.

Lin looked back at him. Though she didn't look as upset or as old as she had the day before, she looked tired in more ways than one.

'Not right now, kid.' She sighed. 'I'd be grateful if you just let me be alone for a while longer.'

Bolin supposed that he should be grateful that he was alive and that his confession to knowing about Lin bonebending had gone so well, but there was something that made him unhappy. Walking into this room, into the atmosphere shrouding Lin, was like walking into a heavy web of sadness and cold and it made him shiver slightly despite the humid warmth of today's summer evening. All he said, though, was 'Kya tells me that if you don't come back down in the next half an hour she'll come and drag you downstairs. And also Sifu, I'd prefer it if… if you called me Bolin.' He made a quick bow, though it seemed stupid to him. Then he wheeled round and out of the attic, letting the musical creaking of the stairs fuel the fire of his curiosity. How in Koh's name would someone fill a book called 'The Bonebending Diary'? Bolin wondered just how dire Lin's secret was, how many times she had bonebent and how much the public suspected the art. On the streets, there had always been a rumour, a story. And there was something that scared him… his mind wondered back to the previous evening and something that Lin had said.

_'__Someday, my luck will run out and I'll end up killing someone I love again.' _

Again? So who was dead because of Lin Beifong?

**AN: The Bonebending Diary will probably be important later. I'm not sure how many more chapters I should do with Lin training Bolin. If you review, please say how often you'd want chapters focusing on training or if you even do at all. The think is, I don't know how much people like the training parts. My updating times are a bit all over the place so here's the schedule I planned; I'm updating Tuesdays and Saturdays usually, maybe sometimes more often. Thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows.**


	6. Too Many Questions

Korra and Asami had gone to the Sato Mansion for a racing-in-the-dark sleepover, so Bolin was seated next to Mako and Kya. Lin was persuaded by Kya to come down and eat dinner, but from where Bolin was watching her, she didn't seem particularly interested in eating. It looked like she was repeatedly rolling her eyes, but as Bolin watched her spoon go round and round on its own, stirring the soup, he grinned to himself at what she was doing.

The levitating spoon clattered in the bowl as Su muttered something to Lin and the metalbender's concentration broke, but her expression retained its mask of calm, quiet authority. Lin was difficult that way, Bolin thought; she didn't show what she was thinking.

He was thinking over the Bonebending Diary. It haunted the attic like a bad dream, and he wondered why someone hadn't destroyed it before, which was certainly what he would have done. On top of this, he was feeling guiltier by the minute that he had eavesdropped on Kya and Lin. Kya sitting next to him, fully prepared to lie to him to help Lin, unnerved him.

'Kya,' he said, elbowing her. Kya had difficulty understanding him because besides the whispered tone of his voice his mouth was stuffed with bread roll, but she could not pretend that she had misheard what he next said.

'I know.' Bolin looked into her eyes deliberately. A thrill of terror raced through Kya. That could only mean one thing.

'How?' She breathed.

Bolin lowered his head. 'I overheard your conversation yesterday.'

'Oh, Bolin.' Kya shook her head. 'Y'know, don't take this as a reason to be scared of Lin or anything. She almost never bonebends.'

'I'm not scared.' Bolin was surprised at the measured, almost cool tone that he was using. 'She's my teacher. She wouldn't hurt me on purpose, and I'm not a child. But I need to ask you something.'

'Okay…' Kya eyed him suspiciously. He took a deep breath.

'Who did Lin kill?'

'Lin killing someone?' Kya frowned. 'Don't be absurd.' Then she bit her lip, so hard that a drop of blood began to well up from the bite marks. She groaned and ran her hand through her hair. 'I don't know how much to tell you. I really think you should ask Lin all this. She'll be able to tell you as much as she wants.'

'I don't want to seem rude.'

Kya answered overly quickly. 'You're not being rude. It's just a very private thing.'

An awkward silence descended on the pair which lasted until the door slammed open and an unfamiliar male voice called 'Chief Beifong?'

They both rushed out into the hallway, followed by everyone else in the Temple. Korra and Asami stood with an officer.

'We met this guy as he was coming off the ferry.' Asami said. 'He seemed pretty desperate to tell you something so we cut our sleepover short.'

'What are you doing here, Sen?' Lin growled, and everyone turned to look at her. The silk clothes detracted a bit from her intimidating aura, but Bolin still marvelled at what a master she was at concealing her emotions behind a flawless, impenetrable sheet of metal. A metal master. She looked so normal, and so different from the Lin he had found today sprawled in the attic. The officer, Sen, paled noticeably.

'You might want to come to the station, Chief.' He said quietly. 'There's something you need to see.'

'What is it?' Lin's voice betrayed the slightest wobble of terror.

Sen lowered his voice. 'A letter.' He said. 'A letter addressed to you. We didn't read it, but it came with some worrying stuff.' Turning to Suyin, he added, 'You might want to come too. The evidence in question heavily concerns you.'

Suyin gasped and shot Lin a glance. 'Let's get down there.' Lin just shook her head, numbly. In the back of her mind, she saw a thousand of her nightmares playing out at once.

'I told the ferry to wait for us.' Korra put deliberate stress on the 'us'.

'Korra, I don't think you should –' Mako began, but Lin interrupted him, her sense of foreboding growing.

'No. Let her come. Let them all come I don't care; it's going to get out anyway.'

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The police station seemed more alive than it had ever been, but the life was a building crescendo of tension and the air was almost silent. The doors slammed open and Lin, closely followed by Su, stormed in. Her silk clothes were torn by the jagged makeshift metal armour that she wore (the ferry now had a large hole in its railing and no one, not even Tenzin, had complained) and she looked, if possible, the absolute picture of leadership and yet also of desperation, her eyes glancing swiftly round the ranks of men and women under her command for someone who, in a reversal of roles, would tell her what to do. Lin's new second in command, a woman named Xirafin, stepped forward from the officers who were clearly not in the mood to confront Lin.

'Chief? Both the letter and everything that came with it are in your office.' Xirafin said professionally. Lin nodded approvingly. She hoped that when she retired, Xirafin would get her job.

'You might as well come, Xirafin.' Lin said tiredly. 'I suppose you were in the training hall yesterday with the others?'

'Yes chief.' Xirafin's carefully organised expression slipped into a grimace for a second. 'I was the one who ran to get Mako, Bolin's brother.'

Xirafin walked behind Lin up the flights of stairs. 'Good to see your arm's been healed.' She said to Bolin, and though the actual compassion in her voice was minimal, Bolin was confident she meant what she said. He smiled at her, though it was uneasy. She seemed much more like a miniature Lin than Mako did.

'We found the letter in your office, Chief. Don't know how it got there.' Xirafin explained as all eight of them crowded into Lin's office; Lin, Suyin, Tenzin, Kya, Mako, Bolin, Asami, Korra and Xirafin; a veritable crowd. Tenzin remembered that the last time he had been here, the walls had been adorned with pictures of the two of them, he and Lin.

'As Sen should have already told you, we haven't moved it or looked inside it, but we have identified a piece of metal that came with it.' Xirafin strode over to the desk and held out the metal object for Lin and Suyin to see. Suyin stared, apparently uncomprehendingly, at the metal lotus flower. Xirafin turned it over, and on the bottom, they could all see the symbol of the flying boar. Lin knew with growing dread exactly what was happening. Her years as a detective and an officer had taught her too much about blackmail for her not to see through this. She knew before opening the letter.

'But that's…' Suyin clenched her fists but her voice dropped to a squeak. 'That's the emblem of Zaofu and the Beifong family.'

'Why would anyone do this right now?' Korra asked. Suyin looked at Lin for permission and Lin nodded curtly, trembling with anger.

'Wouldn't you?' Suyin asked. 'If you had no sense of morality and you could use a person who could make someone's bones go "snap" and kill them right off or slowly torture them?'

Korra gawped at Lin. 'So you're a… you're…'

'So you know what this means, Chief?' Xirafin asked.

Lin's voice shook when she spoke. 'I have some idea. And if _anyone_' she glanced round the room, her eyes burning brighter than fire, 'if _anyone _I trusted has targeted someone I love in order to get to me, they will regret it more than they have ever have or will ever regret anything.'

Everyone in the room took a slight step backwards, without knowing it, from the Chief of Police.

And the bonebender who everyone would not admit they were afraid of stood alone in the centre of the room, to read the letter addressed to her.

**AN: A lot of subtle symbolism here, especially with the last part. The -.-.-. is supposed to be a 'change of scenery' break but I can't work out how to do them. Whenever I try they just disappear. The next chapter won't be too humorous, but hopefully the one after it will be.**


	7. Sokka

The windows of the Police Airship were covered with tiny drops of water as Asami, acting as airship captain, sliced a path through the towering clouds. Lin paced in front of two of these windows, willing the airship to go faster, and Su hovered anxiously behind her sister, biting her nails and squinting through the clouds. Behind Lin, Bolin blew his nose for the billionth time and requested another box of tissues from Mako. The letter was still gripped in Lin's hand and she had memorised it, frantically reading it over again in her mind.

_Dear Lin  
>Have you ever heard the legend of the bonebender? It started up decades ago on the streets, and in the past five years or so I've heard it repeated more times than I can possibly remember. Very few really believed it, but I knew.<br>you remember me? I remember you, clear as day. You wouldn't believe in me if you saw me, I think. You'd pinch yourself to see if you were dreaming._

And in fact, Lin hadn't believed it, not at first. There was only one person who could have written this letter because they'd done it before.

_I always knew your secret, but you were very clever at covering up any evidence and so I never had any proof. But your mistake in the police station when you were training that boy Bolin gave me all the proof I need. I heard that Bolin is romantically involved with your niece, and I find this very fitting to the situation. I heard that she – Opal, am I correct? – is coming to Republic City in a few weeks' time. You might want to radio her today, to see how she is. Enclosed in this you will find a small present. I believe you will get its meaning.  
>I don't need to sign this, do I?<em>

Lin had thought that that person was dead, her only deliberate kill. The others had all been accidents, every one of them, but this one had been different. She glanced back at Mako and Bolin and wondered how much they remembered about what had transpired years ago.

The continued sniffs of Bolin ate away at her patience. As soon as she'd read the letter, she'd desperately tried to contact Zaofu through the best radio the Police had. The other end of the signal had been dead, completely unresponsive. They'd tried several times, Lin becoming more and more frantic, until at last to the astonishment of everyone the Chief picked up the expensive piece of equipment and hurled it at great speed out of the window. The dead wireless could not mean good news and both Lin and Su were adamant that they take an airship to Zaofu immediately, accompanied by Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Kya and, of course, Naga and Pabu. Bolin had been crying nonstop since Lin had let him read the letter and he seemed firmly convinced that Opal was dead. She stopped pacing and went over to him.

'You know,' she said, taking a deep breath and clenching and unclenching her fists in an effort not to run away. But if he kept dating Opal, he deserved to know, because he was family. 'Kya told me that you asked her who I killed.'

Bolin stopped snivelling and looked at her with bloodshot eyes. He nodded.

Lin looked around to make sure that no one else was in the near vicinity. 'I figure that Su might have told Opal, so you're bound to find out eventually.' She sighed. 'I guess you mean, who I killed that I cared about.'

'Yeah. I heard you tell Kya that you'd end up 'killing someone you love again'. I figured that you'd killed someone you cared about using bonebending without meaning to.'

'I guess…' Lin couldn't go on for a moment. 'It's kind of a difficult thing, you know?'

'Yeah.' Bolin said. 'I know.'

'It was when I was eight. It was only a few months after I'd first accidentally killed a Triple Threat Triad member with bonebending, so I was kind of paranoid that I'd bonebend again. I'd written to Sokka expressing my fears, and he'd cut his visit to Kyoshi Island short and come back to the city. We were playing hide and seek on the island – Bumi, Kya, Tenzin, Su, Sokka and I – and I'd hidden in a cardboard box of some sort. And Sokka was counting. I'd hidden for quite a while, so I wasn't very alert, and then – and then he grabbed my shoulders from above and shouted "gotcha!", and I was scared, it was an accident, I-' she buried her head in her hands. 'I honestly didn't mean to.'

'Mean to…' Bolin prompted.

'I truly didn't mean to kill him.' Lin whispered miserably. 'He was trying to help, and I just heard this sharp crack, and I looked and he was just lying there… sometimes it just seems so unreal.' She looked back at Bolin, and there was a gaping loneliness in her eyes that Bolin couldn't look at longer than a brief glance. 'And everyone was so kind. Even Katara. And they tried to help me, but they never looked at me the same way again. Now, neither will you.' Suddenly, Lin laughed dismissively. 'I shouldn't be giving you some sob story. I don't want anyone's help. The closer anyone gets to me, the more they end up getting hurt. I found that out very early on.'

'I would say I'm sorry.' Bolin muttered, and offered her a tissue since her eyes looked suspiciously watery, and to his surprise, she took it. 'But somehow that seems a bit pathetic. It's like when I tell people I lost my parents. I don't want an apology, I just want them to understand. And I think, Sifu, that I understand a bit better now.' He smiled. 'Thank you.'

'Thank _you_.' Lin replied. And for just a moment but a wonderful moment nonetheless, the pain the letter brought her became meaningless, and she felt as light as the clouds that were rushing by.

**-.-.-.-.-.-**

**AN: Okay, any kind of updating schedule is gone out the window. I'm just expecting to update once or twice a week from now on. **


	8. Crash Course

Bolin had told Korra and Asami about what Lin had told him concerning Sokka, and in an attempt to avoid questions, Lin had suggested another training session, this time in a slightly more… intense… atmosphere.

'Come on, Bolin!' Lin called. 'Walk forwards. Slowly now… keep walking…'

'I'm still terrified I'll fall off!' Bolin squeaked back. They were standing on top of the airship. Bolin had anchored his feet to the floor with chunks of earth and Lin was almost certainly using the metal of the roof to keep herself steady. Bolin wouldn't know. He had a blindfold on.

'I've told you a thousand times, if you fall I'll catch you.'

Bolin felt his way forwards. Underneath him her could feel the roof of the airship beginning to curve to his right, so he adjusted his footing and took a slightly more left-angled course. He was learning Seismic sense the crash-course way, the Beifong way.

'Keep walking!' He heard Lin say. 'If you move at that pace all day we'll get to Zaofu in a few hours and you'll be no better off than you started. If who I think it is who sent me that letter, you'll need Seismic sense, even if it's only blurry.'

'Would you please be a little less secretive about that person?' Bolin asked, inching his way forwards. Her voice seemed to be getting further and further away. 'All I know about them is that they're probably really good at hiding and evading, they're a serious threat, they know quite a bit about you, and you're scared of them.'

'What?' Lin exploded. 'I am not scared of anyone! Fear is my enemy's enemy, and therefore it's my friend.'

'I never liked that saying.' Bolin said tentatively. He didn't know how she heard him above the considerable rush of the wind, but she did.

'Not the point.' She growled. 'This person does not scare me. She… I mean they… will never make me afraid at them. I'm too angry.'

'Angry at what?' Bolin asked, stupidly. He'd gone too far. The entire roof creaked and he leapt backwards from an oncoming attack he couldn't see or hear or detect but was certain of. And as his foot went down, he encountered no metal but only thin air.

Lin was kneeling with clenched fists, looking at the hole she'd made in the roof, when she felt the boy's racing heartbeat, and his cry as he stepped backwards into nothing. He thought she was coming for him. In slow motion, he toppled backwards and was lost in the rushing cloud.

Panic overtook Lin, but she wasn't worried enough to stop the annoyance she felt. People were much more afraid of her and more specifically her bonebending than they would ever admit.

In a split second, a metal cable had flown into her hand from the top of the airship and she leapt into the sky. As she fell, the made the cable longer and longer until the cloud layer had passed and she saw, about a hundred metres away, a screaming Bolin.

The cable thinned as she sent half of it flying towards her student and with no hesitation pulled them both back up onto the roof.

'Urgh.' Bolin groaned from where he had landed, clutching his stomach. 'Great Spirits, that stop hurt like hell.'

Lin's arms were also feeling the strain, but she shook the pain off, like she shook all pain off. She ran over to Bolin, who was now being sick whilst moaning and rolling around.

'Careful.' Lin put out a hand to steady him. 'You might fall again.'

'Don't wanna go that.' Bolin mumbled. 'Just… wanna… go… down.'

Lin wrinkled her nose in disgust at the bile Bolin was still throwing up somewhat violently. 'Okay.' She said. 'We'll have half an hour's break, no more.'

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

'Take two!' Lin smirked as Bolin stumbled back across the roof, which had been cleaned by the clouds. Two hours after their first attempt at training, Bolin and Lin were armed with scarves against the cold given to them by Kya and were ready to do anything even remotely interesting after the hour-long lecture Tenzin had given them.

As Bolin finally meandered his way to the tail of the airship, Lin grabbed his shoulders gently to stop him falling off the edge. Grabbing the massive rudder, he took the blindfold off and looked at her expectantly, beaming from ear to ear. If he'd had a tail, it would be wagging frantically with pride.

'Good job, kid.' Lin smiled slightly. Bolin's own grin faded slightly.

'That's all I get for stumbling blind across the roof?'

'Hey.' Lin was offended. 'That's a high accolade. It's more praise than my mother ever gave me.'

Bolin considered this. 'I guess Toph must have been pretty tough.' He said at length. 'And not tough in the coolest way, either.' Lin shrugged at him and hummed in reply, looking out over the vast mountain range that seemed to extend forever. The airship began descending and Bolin imagined Asami carefully steering the thing down into the cover of the mountain range from where they could make their way to Zaofu undetected. Lin gestured to the hatch, noticing that Bolin was looking a little green today. Secretly, she was glad he didn't have seismic sense because her heart was thumping in anticipation of what they would find in Zaofu. His heartbeat, too, was racing.

'Don't worry.' She looked at him sincerely. 'We'll get Opal safe. I'll do my utmost to make sure no harm comes to her.'

Bolin thought for a moment, and then extended a hand. 'Shake on it?'

So they shook on it.

**AN: Sorry the chapter is so short.**


	9. Platinum Kyoshi

'How…much…further?' Kya panted as she scrabbled up the rocky mountainside. Lin glided up to her, skating on the earth, barely out of breath at all.

'Not far.' She said nervously. 'Look.'

They were nearing the top, and Lin began to skate ahead, faster. Suddenly the smooth slab of rock moving beneath her hardened and she stumbled forwards.

'Careful.' Korra warned. 'You'll blow our cover, Beifong.'

'Don't you tell me what to do!' Lin snapped. On an ordinary day, Korra would have shot back some remark, but she was willing to leave it since Lin was so obviously worried.

They had been hiking for hours and those who were not earthbenders or airbenders were dusty and pretty beat, so they heaved a sigh of relief when they reached the crest of the mountain and were able to look down into the valley where Zaofu glimmered like an exotic piece of jewellery in the burning midday sun. From up there, nothing seemed amiss in the Metal City and Lin, who had half expected the place to be surrounded by airships. The only odd thing was…

'Why have they closed the petals?' Suyin whispered. 'They should only be shut at night.'

Everyone now realised what was wrong with Zaofu. The shields of the city, which in daylight were normally open and gave the place the appearance of several lotus flowers, were shut tight, making the city virtually impenetrable.

'With those petals closed, we can't get into the city.' Mako observed. 'They're supposed to defend from anything.'

'Nice deductions, bright spark.' Asami said sarcastically. 'That was a really clever observation, that was.'

'Can't get in?' Lin muttered, though she sounded almost hysterical. 'I'll show you can't get in.'

Lin Beifong disappeared down, into the earth, and before anyone could so much ask what she was doing, they felt the ground give way under their feet. Bolin was submerged in utter, uniform darkness, but the feeling that he was losing his stomach identified that he was still falling. Asami or someone screamed, and then he slammed to a stop. Groaning, he stood up, feeling earth beneath his feet and wishing that he had learned seismic sense.

'Oh Lin.' Groaned Suyin. 'Did you have to?'

'Chief?' Mako asked groggily. 'Bo?'

'Come on, people, we've got to get to Zaofu.' Lin called from somewhere to Bolin's left, and there was a loud cracking sound.

A feeble flame illuminated the large underground chamber they were in, courtesy of Mako, who was holding his stomach. Lin's voice echoed from down a tunnel which, apparently, she herself had made.

'Lin.' Kya scolded. 'You really could've taken another way, or at least warned us. What if you'd bone – I mean, what if we'd been killed?'

It was too late – everyone knew what Kya had been going to say. Lin turned round, fists clenched. 'There's something going on in that city, Kya, and I had to get us there quickly, undetected. If you don't trust my accuracy in earthbending, then turn round, go on.'

Kya murmured something along the lines of 'It's not like it hasn't happened before…' but she was spared the problem of answering properly by Korra.

'You forgot, though.' The Avatar pointed out, 'that this is an entire city of metal and earth benders. We'll be about as easy to detect as we would be if we just strolled into the city waving and smiling.'

Lin's lips quirked into a slight smile. 'If my Seismic sense is accurate, I believe that Suyin has installed a massive sheet of some non-metal substance in all the ground around Zaofu. It's like a cocoon: so long as we stay beneath it, no one inside the city can detect us by seismic sense because this entire thing cuts off any sensing beyond a few hundred metres around Zaofu.'

'That's right.' Suyin said. 'I trust all my people, but in order to prevent any earth or metalbenders getting into the city from below or any criminals getting out, I installed a massive sheet of platinum under the city. We melted masses of the stuff down and over time poured it down a series of tunnels – the whole thing would've collapsed if we'd done it all at once.'

'So all we need,' Asami said, 'Is to cut through the platinum and then quickly earthbend our way up into the city. And then…'

'We'll do whatever it takes to get Opal and the rest of my family safe.' Suyin said. 'There is no need to wonder what the threat is. Lin and I are going to directly seek to eliminate it the moment we find who is threatening my daughter. Do I speak for you, Lin?'

Lin nodded fervently, a determined look set into her steely features.

'Me too.' Bolin said, and everyone turned to look at him. 'Opal means the world to me. If some creep's making threats to Lin and using Opal against her, then I'd be kinda happy to beat them up.'

'Yeah.' Kya said. 'Sounds good to me.'

Mako and Asami nodded their consent, and everyone stood looking at Tenzin.

'Well,' he said, 'I do encourage non-violent approaches to conflict resolution.' He looked pained. 'But… if this person is who Lin and I think they are, violence might be the only way. And they…' he trailed off, and the anger in his eyes was confusing. He glanced at Lin, and then away again.

'All right.' Su took off down the tunnel Lin had carved and began helping her sister. The others followed, and after a few minutes, Su called to stop. Lin stopped bending the tunnel out of the rock.

'I think we're right beneath Zaofu now.' Su said. 'I know this place like the back of my hand.'

'We are.' Lin said. 'I can feel it.'

'You can sense through the platinum?' Su asked.

'A little.' Lin said vaguely. 'Now are we getting into this place or not?'

'Okay.' Su said. 'Korra, Bolin, you need to help us earthbend our way through the platinum. We need to be in the city before anyone realises what's happening. From there, Korra, you can… y'know… be the avatar.'

Korra grimaced. 'I'm not sure if I can go into the avatar state anym-'

'All four earthbenders come just here.' Su instructed, motioning around her. Bolin strongly suspected that next to these three mega-amazing benders. Korra seemed to notice.

'Stop it, Bolin. Feeling sorry for yourself doesn't help anyone. If anything, I've got the most to worry about.'

'On my count.' Said Su. 'One, two, THREE!'

All four benders made several sharp punches upwards. The earth above them simply disappeared but through the dust, high above, a compacted mass of earth could be seen. Another punch had a loud clang echoing through the tunnel. Another punch, and another. Su, squinting upwards, said 'We're nearly through it… right, Lin?'

In reply, Lin made a massive tearing motion, as though she were swimming through the air, a little like the one she had made when ripping the Equalist airship apart, and an almighty screech was heard. Bolin covered his ears.

'Did you just platinum bend?' he asked Lin.

'Of course not.' Lin growled. 'No one can platinum bend. We'd already torn partly through the platinum with that compressed earth and small parts of that earth were left inside the platinum. It's like metalbending, but not actually bending metal.'

'Right, that's it.' Su said. 'Now let's go.' She bent the ground beneath them into a circular shelf and it rocketed up through the newly made hole. Bolin just managed to get a glimpse of the jagged edges of the platinum sheet. It was at least as thick as the average building, and Bolin felt a sense of pride that he'd helped cut a hole through it.

Then, suddenly, he was forced to squint as glaring white light hit his eyes.

The lotus petals were closed, but evidently Zaofu had a siege mode because the normally gentle blue light along the sides of the petals were transformed into something resembling the light of the spirit portals. Bolin squeezed his eyes tight shut though the light continued to flash in front of his eyes.

'Watch out!' Shouted Suyin and he opened his eyes, squinting and wishing again that he had seismic sense. Lin and Su still had their eyes closed but the others were squinting like him, shielding their eyes. Even with his poor eyesight, Bolin could see that though people were staring at them, they weren't surrounding them. All at once, he heard Korra's cry and at the same time felt himself jabbed sharply from behind several times. He suddenly felt as though he were a piece of soggy cardboard, flopping to the floor. He felt the sensation to be familiar; after a moment's thought he recognised it as chi-blocking.

'Oh damn.' He heard a voice mutter above him. Lin. 'So it really is true.'

'"Oh damn" does about sum your situation up, Lin.' A cool female voice said. 'Do I need to order my warriors to chi-block you too?'

'No.' Said Lin, abrupt as ever and almost as collected. Almost. 'But I need to find out why you're alive.'

'Not why, Lin, but how.'

Bolin felt the needle of a syringe pressing into his arm and suddenly felt as though his mind were shutting down.  
>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-<p>

The next thing Bolin knew, his bleary eyes were opening to the snapping of Asami Sato's fingers. He found himself sitting in the map room of Zaofu, on one of the luxurious sofas, with the model of the city in front of him. He could feel that he was still chi-blocked, and this was proved when he tried and failed to bend the earth beneath his feet.

'Give it up, Bolin.' Asami said. 'Korra can't go into the Avatar State or anything. Though,' she lowered her voice, 'I think that it's not the chi-blocking that's stopping her.'

Suyin and Lin sat in almost the exact same position Bolin remembered the sisters sitting in on that dreadful day where Aiwei had been uncovered to have been working with Zaheer. This time, though, they were both slumped forwards hopelessly, with Kya doing the comforting. Mako was muttering to Korra in confusion and Tenzin was frowning so deeply that he looked furious. Eventually, Tenzin turned to Lin. 'Is it really her?' He asked.

Lin nodded. 'I'd love to say no, Tenzin. I'm not lying.' She paused for a second, and Bolin saw that she'd taken her shoes off. Evidently she hadn't been chi-blocked. 'Looks like we'll find out any minute now. They're coming.'

'I could get the others out.' Tenzin said earnestly. 'If you –'

'No.' Bolin cut him off. 'I'm not going without Opal. If you wanna baby someone, baby Rohan.' Then he blushed. 'I'm sorry, that sounded ruder than I meant it to.'

Tenzin just shook his head and seemed about to reply with some sort of reassuring remark when the doors swung open. Bolin stared at the three women who entered. All of them were wearing green robes and had white-and-scarlet painted faces. He tried to put a name on them, but couldn't.

'Lin!' The woman in the middle said, for all the world as though they were friends, though the glare Lin was giving her could have introduced an ice age. Her hair was long and black, though sprinkled with grey. 'It's simply divine to see you! And you too, Tenzin, of course. And who are these people? You brought your sister, the avatar, the other brat of Aang's, and some friends! And all to see me. I'm honoured.'

'Cut it, Sukika, or I'll cut you.' Lin said with none of the easy tone the other woman had. 'Where's Opal? What did you and your New Kyoshis do to take over Zaofu?'

'Kyoshi?' Korra asked. 'I knew that's who you were – the Kyoshi warriors.'

'You mean you haven't told them?' The woman called Sukika asked Lin. 'You didn't even tell them why they're here?'

'I…' Lin glanced around the room.

'Sifu?' Bolin asked. 'Who are these people?'

Sukika laughed, and when she threw back her head, the grey streaks in her hair became more evident. Bolin tried to look scathing but just succeeded in looking scared because this woman was carrying knives and she looked insane. He wondered briefly whether Opal was alive, then forced the thought out of his head.

'I'm the founder of the New Kyoshis.' Sukika said with a bow. 'Though thanks to your Chief of Police I can't fight for them anymore. Lin's a bit formal, I'm afraid – you can call me Suki. The New Kyoshis mean nothing to you, though… you'd know me better as Sokka's daughter.'

**AN: Sorry for the poor updating, but this is the longest chapter by far, so...**


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